Reaper, "Cancun": A death in the family?

"Reaper" season finale spoilers coming up just as soon as I get rid of a mold stain...

Hmmm... I'm a little conflicted on how that all played out.

On the one hand, the finale introduced a whole bunch of interesting new angles for season two: Sam is now marked for death (or worse) by all the non-Tony rebel demons, Sam believes his father to be dead even though his father somehow (by being a demon himself?) survived being buried alive, Sam is either the harbinger of the Apocalypse or an important part of God's plan, etc. To trot out the now inevitable "Buffy" comparisons, this is the sort of territory that "Buffy" was heading into by the end of its uneven first season, which led to its kick-ass second season.

On the other hand, I don't know that this show, with this particular assemblage of talent in front of and behind the camera, is really up for much weightier material. Bret Harrison's a talented comic actor, but he doesn't seem up for the more serious moments, as evidenced by how flat the few scenes were in between the apparent death of Sam's dad and the revelation that he was alive and well. I don't know if that's on Harrison, or on the producers not wanting to go to a very dark place knowing that, within minutes, they'd be telling us that it all was a lie, but Sam seemed mildly bummed-out, at best, at the thought that his father (biological or adopted, he was still Sam's dad) was dead, that he was now Demon Enemy #1, that he could be Satan's son, etc. The idea to have Sock try to help Sam cope with his grief in the only way he knew how -- acting juvenile and blowing stuff up -- could have been both funny and moving at the same time if the moments leading up to it seemed more tragic, but instead it came across like the show itself only knows how to deal with tragedy by being juvenile and blowing stuff up.

I remain glad that the show got renewed and will be back at midseason, and that Fazekas, Butters and company got away from the tedious Soul of the Week format that was killing the show in the early going. I just wonder if they've maybe bit off more than they can chew here.